Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada

Birth name

Ring names

Height

Weight

Born

November 8, 1987 (1987-11-08) (age 29)

Birth Place

Anjo, Aichi, Japan

Resides

Orlando, Florida, United States

Billed from

Tokyo, JapanAnjo, Japan

Trainer

Ultimo DragonYuji Nagata

Debut

August 29, 2004

Kazuchika Okada (born November 8, 1987) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to the WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand, where he is a former United States Champion. Okada is best known for his time in NJPW where he was a three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

Initially trained by Último Dragón and making his debut in August 2004, Okada spent his first years in professional wrestling working in Mexico, before returning to Japan and making NJPW his home promotion in mid-2007. Originally working as a junior heavyweight, Okada graduated to the heavyweight division in April 2008, with limited success. In February 2010, NJPW sent Okada on a learning excursion to American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he ended up spending the next twenty months, mainly performing on the promotion's secondary television program, Xplosion. From January to March 2011, Okada, now performing under the ring name Okato, was featured on TNA's primary television program, Impact!, as Samoa Joe's sidekick in his rivalry with D'Angelo Dinero.

Okada's run with TNA ended in October 2011 and he returned to NJPW in January 2012, repackaged as "Rainmaker", complete with a new look and a villainous persona. Just a month later, Okada defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win NJPW's top title, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which he would hold for four months, before losing it back to Tanahashi. The following August, Okada won NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax. At the end of year, the Tokyo Sports magazine named Okada the 2012 MVP in all of Japanese professional wrestling. The following year, Okada first won the New Japan Cup in March, before regaining the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Tanahashi in April. After a thirteen-month reign, Okada lost the title in May 2014. Three months later, he won his second G1 Climax. Okada has since won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship two more times, and headlined NJPW's biggest annual event – the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show – three times (2013, 2015, and 2016).

Contents

Professional wrestling career

Training and early career (2004–2007)

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2007–2010)

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2010–2011)

Return to NJPW (2010–2016)

WWE (2016–present)

United States Champion (2016–2017)

Feud with Kenny Omega (2017–present)

The feud between Okada and Kenny Omega began at the 2017 Royal Rumble with Okada putting his United States Championship on the line. Okada was successful in defended his title and at 46 minutes and 45 seconds it was the longest match at the Royal Rumble that wasn't the Rumble match itself. Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter, gave the match a six-star rating. He added that Okada and Omega "may have put on the greatest match in pro wrestling history" and that it was the best match he had ever seen.

In the subsequent tournament that would run for six weeks until the Judgment Day pay-per-view in May, Okada was drawn against Baron Corbin in the first round and was victorious. He would then defeat Abyss in the quarter-final and Hiroshi Tanahashi in the semi-finals to set up a meeting with Kenny Omega for the WWE Championship. At the pay-per-view Okada and Omega battled hard in a 41-minute classic but Omega was victorious winning WWE Championship for the first time in his career. Okada and Omega then clashed again at Money in the Bank in a record 74 minute match in which Omega once again won to retain his title.